Felix

Cool car. If you weren't into the historic class though you would be far better off ditching a K series and going to a Suzuki G13b, like they have in Sports 1300 racing. Similar weight, wider powerband, much lower price for a given HP output, way lower stressed and around 2.5 to 5 times the lifespan between rebuilds.

The kitcars and VW Kombi made me think of Meyers Manx (or eqiv) Buggies.

Look in the FAQ Also use the search function. EDIT: The original 12" stocky rims (if fitted) won't fit over the ke30 discs. You will need at least 13" rims.

That volvo is seriously cool. The integration of old and new, is so well executed with that car. 60's cars are the best. :yes:

I'd use a multimeter and check the voltage at the coil. 10,000 volts is very low. I've got one of those spark tester tools. My ke15 with points dizzy, echlin sports coil and older dick smith HEI kit puts out 30,000 volts at idle. When I had a 5k electronic dizzy with Bosch transformer coil it put out 40,000 volts at idle.

Why did you pull the head off, was the head gasket blown? To change valve stem seals the easiest way is with some some rope and an overhead valve spring compressor. :y:

Considering you are building a "mild" 5k motor, why bother? Roller rockers are more a top end mod, so unless you plan on spending extended periods of time over 8 grand, I don't really think the cost/performance factor is very favourable. From what I've seen you are looking at $600-1000+ for roller rockers to suit a Datsun A series motor. Then you have to modify them to suit your 5k, also you'll be needing a solid lifter conversion.... Seems like an awful lot of money to spend on a mild build of a 5k motor.

:hmm: The cam runs at half engine RPM. Depends on how your overall combo is setup, ie extractors, exhaust, induction, headwork. In a 4k my 25/65 cam made peak power a 7500. Click the link in my sig to hear how a 25/65 cam runs in my 5k. :y: Rather than rebuild, look around for a motor in better condition than what you already have. Shouldn't cost much, maybe up to a few hundred.

Yep, the timing chain may need replacing. Most 4k's have single row timing chains, when they wear bad they start trying to chew through the timing cover. :y: Double row timing chains are the way to go.

Hillman Imp/Singer Chamois. Just love the coupes.

Mk1 cortinas. A lotus version would be awesome.

EH Holdens, especially the wagons.

BMWs, particularly the E30, E32 and E34 series. I'd love to get an E30 Touring for the missus and do a 335i conversion.

The answers to all your questions are here.

No idea, but you'd be better going to Cyrus Persian Rugs, as he has cheaper "Drugs".

mattress, I think you've hit the nail on the head. 90% (or more) of ke1x's would have had drum brakes from the factory, and they probably used a drum brake car when they designed the kits. The only ke1x cars that came with discs were the S and SL models. My ke15 was a non-SL model and was fitted with drums. To add, I think with a little trimming of the swaybar ends and a little caliper grinding, contact would be a non-issue.

My car has pretty much neutral camber. Toe-in I run around 3mm. I do wheel alignments myself with the help of the missus and a tape measure. I've thought about running coil-overs and adjustable strut tops but never worried to much about it. Those mods cost money. I might do something like that later on, during the cars next rebuild. I have a few ideas on how to gain castor and camber out of the front with very little work. I'll leave it to others though to see if they can work it out. :bash:

No idea. Maybe you could buy a swaybar kit and try it for yourself. I agree, the swaybar kits aren't ideal, but I would never drive a ke1x without one. :bash: there is no adjustment. It isn't a dumb question at all. The only dumb questions are the unasked ones. :y:

Wouldn't the steering arm be in the wrong place if you were to mount the caliper at the rear? The only time I've had problems is cranking in full lock. I wound out the steering lock bolts a bit and that helped. The car still has plenty enough steering lock. The first set of Yoky A539 tyres I wore out had pretty even tyre wear. I got 40 thousand kays out of them. I did run 44 psi pressure in the front which makes the tyres wear more evenly, plus I rotated the tyres every 10 thousand kays or so. The A539's do have extremely chunky outer tread blocks though, which stops them self getting ripped up like most other tyres. I did live on Mt Nebo for 6 months, and the tyres got a massive workout. I was always pushing the limits of adhesion hunting down motorbikes. If your car is super low the roll centers will be screwed up, which makes the car want to roll moreso than if the rideheight was higher. Also once the lower arms get around level or lower the camber wants to start becoming more positive.

Yep you are right about how the forces take a different path. I've had no issues running without the leaves. The strut towers have those reinforcement braces running to the firewall. There is no cracking or anything with mine and I have been running without leaves for a good 5 years or so. If you think about it, not having the leaves would reduce loads on the lower control arm bushes. I guess also the swaybar shares twisting forces and feeds them into the chassis as well. Though obviously not with two wheel bumps. As for the swaybars hitting the calipers, I found an old pic from my ke16 where you should be able to get the idea. You can see the lighter brown rub marks on the lower side of back the caliper.

The 24010 part tells me it is a 3k bigport.

WGMG.... nothing today.

His style is more like a rally driver gone nuts, it's like he thinks he's driving on dirt roads. He doesn't really use the handbrake, nor use clutch kicks. He tends to feint and use the Scandinavian flick to point the car where he wants it to go. Definitely one of the most impressive drivers I've seen. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWgQiw2gSzQ His car setup is great, so stable, look how smooth and quick he can drive it in the wet. Doubt many so called drift cars out there could manage the same in the wet.

Can't say I'm a fan of drifting, but I dig this guys vids, especially on the hillclimb tracks. Interesting that he doesn't run ridiculous amounts of negative camber, nor super-wide rims with stretched tyres like what a lot of the drift kids are running these days.